Having a nail stuck into your candy bar is nothing to snicker about.
Two families in southern Michigan report that they found candy in their kids’ Halloween bags that contained nails or thumb tacks.
An unidentified firefighter for the Fremont Fire Department who took his kids trick-or-treating near Coldwater Monday night discovered a Snickers bar impaled by a nail and two other pieces of candy with thumb tacks in them, according to WANE.com.
None of the tampered candy was eaten. The firefighter reported the tampered treats to local police, which warned other families with this Facebook post:
Police in Coldwater, where the children received the candy, is reportedly investigating. HuffPost was unable to reach police for comment.
That wasn’t the only report of tampered candy in Coldwater.
Heather Kay Williams said her sister bit into a thumb tack while eating a piece of her 2-year-old daughters’ Halloween candy on Monday night.
Her NSFW Facebook post has since gone viral:
Williams said the saddest part about the experience is that the tampered candy either came from someone on her block, or someone participating in her church’s “Trunk or Treat” event.
Williams couldn’t be reached. She said on Facebook she’s not happy that some people reacted to her warning about tainted candy by accusing her of making it up.
Most reports of tainted or tampered candy turn out to be urban legends or flat-out hoaxes.
Joel Best, a sociology and criminal justice professor at the University of Delaware, has researched candy-tampering cases dating back to 1958.
“I have yet to find of a report of an incident where a child was killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating,” Best told the Canadian Broadcasting Co. He said fears of someone adulterating candy with poison or sharp objects is absurd.
“This is a guy who is so crazy that he kills little children at random, but he’s so tightly wrapped, he only does it one night a year,” Best said.